1 Peter

Toddler snuggling with mom on couch

Summer Sniffles + Why I Love Our Neighborhood

I loved all the comments on my last post! It made me feel a lot better to read about your kitchen mishaps and hear that a few of you thought the melted carrier looked like art. Jimmy and I were thinking the same thing! He thought we should name it “Sunday Afternoon in The Zottola House.”

I’m happy to report that my $77 mistake is all fixed! I ran a self-cleaning cycle on the oven yesterday and the new racks came in the mail. I even did some baking and nothing tasted like plastic. I thought all was right until Malcolm knocked my beloved milk frother (which was still plugged into the outlet–eek!) into a pan of sudsy water in the sink. When will I learn to wash dishes ASAP?!

I slept in a bit yesterday and was reading my Bible before Sadie woke up. I spent some time in 1 Peter and read the chapter that our monthly memory verse is in. Since becoming a parent, I truly treasure any quiet time I can get with my Bible and prayer journal!

Bible

Once Sadie woke up, I realized she had a case of the sniffles. Poor girl must have sneezed 50 times yesterday. Her nose was running and she was pretty miserable unless I was holding her. 

Toddler snuggling with mom on couch

We made it through the day and did one of my most favorite rituals: we took a walk as a family in the evening.

We were walking past a house that has beautiful landscaping and a garden when we came across this bag taped to their fence. 

Bag of free jalapeño peppers from vegetable garden

The homeowners were sitting on their porch when we grabbed the bag, waved, and thanked them. That is one of the many reasons I love our neighborhood 🙂

What should I cook with the jalapeños?

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Billy’s birthday, photo fails, and cats

Hello and happy Thursday! I only have to pet sit two dogs and run an errand for the family I work for today, so I thought I’d use my extra free time pop in here on the blog and say hi.

I should totally be editing my book, cleaning our bathroom, or finding out what Malcolm is up to in the living room right now (I hear all kinds of noises but don’t really want to know what kind of trouble he’s getting into!), but I just want to blog. So here I am 🙂

My brother’s birthday is on Saturday!

Billy and Moses

Billy and his dog, Moses.

I’ve had people comment on my blog before and say they never knew I had a brother, haha. He’s four years older than me and lives about 45 minutes away, so I don’t get to see him as much as I’d like. We do see each other at least twice a week at church, though, which is awesome.

I had fun picking out birthday gifts for him. He loves tacos, hot sauce, avocado, and Dunkin’ Donuts, so I tried to combine all of that in a gift. Plus some peanut butter chocolate chip cookies that I baked. Can’t go wrong with cookies, right?!

birthday-gifts

Growing up with my brother was the best. I followed him around everywhere and wanted to be just like him. Thankfully, he put up with me and we have a lot of hilarious memories. He was 10-years-old when Hannah came along, and I can remember how proud he was to hold her and carry into church for the first time. Ah, memories 🙂

Happy birthday, Billy, I love you!

I was looking through pictures on my phone from the weekend and had to laugh at the pictures Jimmy and I took before we went on a walk together. We took four pictures and none of them included both of us smiling and looking at the camera at the same time.

photo-fail photo-fail-2

The struggle was real.

Can I just repeat for the 1,000th time how much fun I have with the cat of the family I work for?

bengal

He lets me carry him around in laundry baskets and I always find him sitting on top of the family’s dryer. I feel like he went through a growth spurt recently, because he seems so big now?! Maybe it’s because I go from holding 5-month-old Malcolm, to their one-year-old cat.

I found this picture on Pinterest and asked Jimmy if this can be our house in a few years…

Totally reasonable, right?

Well, I better get going. My second cup of coffee and Bible are calling my name, and then I need to get my day started.

Jimmy and I are beginning to study 1 Peter together, so I’ve been reading it and referencing my Halley’s Bible Handbook to learn as much as I can. 1 Peter focuses on Christians accepting and dealing with unjust suffering. Persevering in faith through trials is tough, but the book of 1 Peter gives so much encouragement and hope for the future. Love it.

I hope everyone has a great day!